The New Jersey venue where at least 150 people gathered Thursday night for the New York Young Republican Club’s annual gala was shuttered on Friday amid public outcry and another coronavirus wave in the tri-state area.
The 108th annual gala—which was supposed to feature star speaker Sarah Palin before she backed out—was held at the Maritime Parc in Jersey City’s Liberty State Park after the group appeared to scrap plans to hold it across the river in New York. Videos and images posted on Twitter showed attendees gathered inside, flouting COVID-19 guidelines.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop blasted the event as “an egregious violation” of the state’s COVID-19 restrictions. In a statement to The Daily Beast on Friday morning, he said the “establishment has been ordered closed” until it submits a written operational plan to the Health Department on how it’s complying with capacity mandates and mask wearing.
